The Dawgs have provided plenty of memories over the past decade. Here are some of the favourites from three men who have been there for virtually all the magic at Seaman Stadium since June of 2007.
Dave Robb, first head coach of the Okotoks Dawgs. Was the head man when they won the WMBL title in 2004 as the Calgary Dawgs. Now the bench coach in Okotoks.
1. “Opening Day 2007. Magical with rainbow and the fans. Love affair with town of Okotoks. We lost but it was the start of three-year reign.”
2. “Travis Drader’s scoreboard shot in (2007) playoffs. It was Roy Hobbs-like”.
3. “Brett Thomas, Manny Kumar and Jeff Duda. The core trio. Thomas steady offensive and defensive (at catcher). Kumar clutch. (Starting pitcher) Duda wins, wins.”
4. “The crowds. The best fans keep coming. I’m still amazed how many people can fit into Seaman Stadium. I always comment that the Dawgs fans appreciate the game; they don’t come to “rag” players.”
5. “Three-peat from 2007 to 2009. I wasn’t on field for all but still around to celebrate. I’ve been a part of many championships but only one three-peat.”
Jeff Duda. The Bulldog. Arguably the best clutch pitcher in Okotoks Dawgs history. Now a coach with the Okotoks Dawgs Academy.
1. “Winning the championship at Seaman Stadium in 2007. It was just a bonus I got to close it out.”
2. “In 2007 when Travis Drader hit the walk-off home run over the scoreboard at Seaman Stadium against the Swift Current Indians.”
3. “Winning the championship in 2008 at Seaman Stadium. Lee Ingram struck out the last guy looking. He had worked so hard that year and really became a dude on the bump that year.”
4. “Pitching Game 1 of the championship series in 2008 at Swift Current. I pitched 13 innings, didn’t get the win, but we won Game 1. Mark Hardy threw a no-hitter in game two and we came back home with 2-0 series lead. Two of the most well-pitched games I have been a part of or witnessed at that level.”
5. “The friendships and memories that were made over the 3 seasons will last a lifetime. Arguably the biggest highlight of all. Core group of guys still stay in touch to this day, and when we do see each other, it’s just like it was back in ‘07-09.”
John Ircandia, executive director of the Okotoks Dawgs. One of the founders of the organization. The man behind the scene who keeps it all going.
1. The first ever opening day at Seaman Stadium: We had no idea how many people would come. In fact, the directors all offered “guess-ti-mates” that ranged from 500 to 1,000 fans.
As game time neared, we witnessed a “real life” Field of Dreams, moment as the cars keep coming and we sold out the place. Not only that, as the first pitch was thrown and I looked into the sky, I saw that we were playing under a “double rainbow”.
I teared up actually after all the stress and work to build the stadium, introduce the club to a new community, set up a whole new operation, recruit the coaches and players, believing with certainty that we had the divine guidance of my dear departed wife staring down on us from heaven.
2. Dawgs walk off win on way to first WMBL Championship in our inaugural season — “I am thinking of Travis Drader’s walk-off home run to put us one win shy and then the sold-out crowd going bananas as we won the championship that first-year.
“The You Tube video on the final out still brings tears to my eyes.”
3. The THREE-PEAT!!, Three seasons in Okotoks; three WMBL championships.
4. The kids running the bases with Diggity — I will never forget the comment made by Ed Poffenroth, who was one of the early supporters of bringing the Dawgs to Okotoks. It was at a BBQ following our first home stand at Seaman Stadium. He gave an impromptu speech saying: “I knew bringing the Dawgs and Seaman Stadium to Okotoks would be a wonderful thing for the community, but I never realized how truly phenomenal it would be until I saw those hundreds of kids running the bases after the first game. Then I knew for certain the impact would be huge and lasting.”
5. Every meeting I had with Don Seaman and then mayor Bill McAlpine — “There were a million challenges in getting all the approvals and project managing the construction of the Stadium. Plus all of these things had to be done between the ground breaking in August 2006 and opening day on June 8, 2007. Meeting with these two visionaries was an inspiration. Failure or delay was not an option. We were a formidable team.”
6. Establishing the Dawgs Youth Academy — The Dawgs began as a youth program, ultimately one of, if not the best in the country. As a MLB scout once said watching original Dawgs at a World Series in Reno, Nevada, “you don’t wanna play those guys!”. So our vision from day 1 in Okotoks included a youth team that has now became a youth program of six-elite teams from ages 12-18. That took the financial commitment of Don and Doc Seaman and later Michael Rose, among others, and the tireless dedication of numerous coaches led by David Robb as our original Academy head coach, to make that a reality.
7. Dawgs Youth Players Being Selected in the MLB Draft: Before Okotoks we already had some “highs” in this regard with the likes of Jim Henderson, Emerson Frostad, my son Matt, Avery, and many others off the original youth team being selected in the MLB draft, but that has only grown in Okotoks with the incredible achievements of developing Dawgs like Tyler Hollick and Jordan Procychen and in a few weeks, Clayton Keyes. Add to that all of the college Dawgs that our fans have seen before they join the professional ranks, names like, John Shelby, Kyle Dhanani, Mark Hardy, Sammie Starr, Cade Gotta, Trever Allen, Kasey Koffman and many others.
8. Bringing the Blue Jays to Okotoks to partner with the Dawgs: The youth camps, the Roberto Alomar Home Run Derby, all the Blue Jays alumni. It is a major point of pride and highlight that the Dawgs have been able to put Okotoks in the national spotlight in terms of youth baseball and the community support of a summer collegiate franchise. The support of Okotoks is unheard of and what did the Globe & Mail call it “a national grassroots phenomenon!”
9. The Canadian Breast Cancer Fundraiser: This was the brainchild of William Gardner, our MC extraordinaire and game day promotions guru, and it is incredible to think we have facilitated raising around 350K for this worthy cause. The most amazing thing about this and what I think speaks volumes about the positive impact of the Dawgs in the community was the year when an anonymous donor walked into the office after the Breast Cancer Game and said to William, “The Dawgs do such a great job in the community and I am so overwhelmed with this event that I am matching the $25K that was raised today by auctioning off the jerseys,’ resulting in $50K that was donated to CBCF. Wow! Where else does that happen?”
10. The year that the Dawgs Midget, Bantam and Peewee teams all captured Alberta Provincial Championships during the same weekend. No youth organization has ever done that.
